The top ten favourites to replace Xavi as Barcelona manager features Arsenal's Mikel Arteta and two other Premier League bosses.
Rather stepping on the toes of Jurgen Klopp, who had announced his departure from Liverpool the day before, in the aftermath of Barcelona’s 5-3 defeat to Villarreal, Xavi told the world he was to step down as the Catalans’ coach at the end of the season.
But who will replace the club legend at the Nou Camp? Here, according to Oddschecker, are the ten favourites to become the next Barcelona manager.He says it’s “impossible” for him to manage another Premier League club after Liverpool, and we believe him, but we’re not having his claim that he may never return to management. There’s simply no chance a man with that much passion for the game could retire at 56 and live without it.
He took charge of Las Palmas since January 2022, earning promotion to La Liga last season, and putting them on course for their highest finish since the 1970s this term, with European qualification still a possibility. There’s is a story lost amid the Girona fairytale in Spain, and given an identity based upon La Masia principles, Pimienta would ease back into life at Barca with a minimum of fuss.
He’s said to be very close with sporting director Deco and also has a good relationship with president Joan Laporta. This may well be a case of who he knows, not what he knows.having been out of a job since leaving the dumpster fire that is the German national team in September. His club CV is brief but absurdly strong.
He’s only managed Bayern Munich but won four major trophies, including the Treble in his debut season, and won a ridiculous 70 of the 86 games he was in charge for, a win percentage of 81. Recency bias given his struggles with Germany may well clear the way for Barcelona to land one of the best club managers around.Barcelona have made Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta one of their top targets to replace Xavi at the helm in the summer, according to reports in Spain.